DLnews Politics:

New details become well-known in the affair around secret government documents in the USA!

According to media reports, the team of former President Donald Trump (76) has handed over further secret material to the judiciary. The material is said to have been discovered a few weeks ago in Trump's private residence Mar-a-Lago in Florida, as the channels CNN and ABC reported on Friday evening concerning unnamed sources.

There was also a new find at Trump's former vice Mike Pence (63): FBI investigators discovered another secret government document on Friday during a search of his private home.

A patrol secures the entrance to Mike Pence's estate in Carmel (U.S. state of Indiana).

The document affair has kept the U.S. in suspense for months and reached U.S. President Joe Biden. In recent weeks, documents with confidential markings from his time as vice president under Barack Obama surfaced in private rooms of the Democrat. Findings of his successor Trump had already caused a stir in the summer.

Both cases are now being investigated by special investigators. Finally, Pence also had to admit last month that secret documents from his time as Vice have surfaced in his private home.

The Republican Trump had taken large quantities of government documents with him to his private Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida when he left the White House, including quite a few records with the highest level of secrecy. As a result, the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the estate in August and seized various classified documents. Previously, the National Archives had repeatedly asked Trump to return the documents.

According to reports, after the search, Justice unsuccessfully demanded assurance from Trump's lawyers that no classified documents were now in the former president's possession. However, the broadcaster ABC wrote that Trump's team had then set out to search for other papers and had made a find.

Accordingly, an employee's laptop was now also handed over, to which classified material had been transferred. While at ABC, beside the computer, only a presumably empty folder with a closure marking the speech was, it said with CNN. Also, further secret documents were found with Trump and were handed over.

During the search in August, investigators had already seized dozens of empty file folders with closure markings. Trump said he took the folders as souvenirs from the White House. Unlike Pence and Biden, whose two properties were also combed by investigators, Trump's search had not been previously coordinated with the Justice Department.

Pence had agreed in advance to the search of his estate in the state of Indiana on Friday, as his adviser Devin O'Malley made clear again on Friday.

During the search, in addition to a document marked classified, six other pages of government material were found without such a marking, U.S. media quoted O'Malley as saying. Already since the end of January, it is known that in the house of the Republican Pence in Carmel (U.S. state of Indiana), secret files from his former term in office were found. A lawyer had discovered the documents at that time, it was said. They were then picked up by the federal police.

Pence later commented, "While I was not aware that these classified documents were in our private home, let me be clear: Those classified documents should not have been there." The search now conducted reportedly lasted five hours. Pence was apparently not present, but one of his aides was.

The Republican served as the No. 2 statewide official under Trump from 2017 to 2021. He is expected to seek a presidential bid from Republicans like his former boss. Trump announced his candidacy back in November. Elections will be held in late 2024.

Trump accuses the judiciary of its investigation against him is politically motivated. However, special Prosecutor Jack Smith is investigating Trump's document affair and the Republican's role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Jack Smit is a special investigator for the United States Department of Justice.

In the course of this investigation, special investigator Smith is also expected to subpoena Pence, according to media reports. They said Pence is scheduled to make a statement, and documents have also been requested.

The special investigator is said to be particularly interested in exchanges between Trump and Pence surrounding the storming of the house and the 2020 presidential election, of which Trump, to this day, falsely claims he was deprived of victory by fraud. Pence could invoke executive privilege - the government's prerogative to keep specific information secret.

Pence narrowly escaped violence during the Capitol attack from the angry mob that Trump had also previously incited against his then-vice president. Congress had convened to formally certify the election victory of Trump's Democratic challenger, Biden. The violent crowd wanted to prevent that.

Pence was presiding over the congressional session as vice president - legally a ceremonial task. However, Trump had previously blatantly called on his Vice publicly to block the proceedings - to prevent the handover of office. Pence refused to give in to Trump's pressure at the time. The arch-conservative politician had previously long remained loyal to Trump. Only after the attack on the Capitol did he oppose his former boss.